Recent advances in medical research have resulted in a proliferation of medication types and doses such that there are thousands of medications, doses, and related packaging that can flow through pharmacies, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities. As the number of available medications and doses increases, tracking these medications and doses with unique identifiers becomes a challenge. Further, changes in package quantities, doses, manufacturer, etc. can result in the unique identifier associated with each package changing. Additionally, when distributors or wholesalers have product shortages or changes in contracts, brands of medications may be interchanged in order to meet the demand of customers. While medication brands may be interchangeable, these different brands have different product identifiers that are not interchangeable, and a chain of events may be required by the customer to ensure that the substituted medication can be scanned throughout the enterprise to ensure accurate dispensing, charge capture, and inventory management.
It is important for a healthcare facility or pharmacy to properly identify medications that are received and processed. Medications may arrive and/or be distributed in a variety of package quantities, package form factors, and doses such that identification of the medication may be different between two different packages of the same medication. While standards exist for some facets of medication identification, such as the National Drug Code or NDC, products from different manufacturers may have differing product codes on a medication package for distinctions between package quantities, package form factors, or other differences.